Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti ZIMBABWE, just like most southern African countries, is grappling with food insecurities, high rates of malnutrition and micronutrients deficiencies, particularly among children under five years due to the drought induced by the El Nino phenomenon. Sub-Saharan Africa, notes the World Food Programme (WFP), has the highest percentage of a hungry population in the world, with one person in four undernourished, while over a third of children are stunted. Reliance on genetic hybrid varieties like maize, has intensified food insecurity, malnutrition as well as micronutrient deficiencies in Zimbabwe. However, small grains such as millet, sorghum, and rapoko (finger millet) as well as pulses, defined by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as legumes with dry, edible seeds that have low fat content like lentils, beans and chick peas, are proving to be the solution to food and nutritional security in semi-arid parts of the country. Semi-

Lazarus Sauti The government of Japan is committed to work with tourism authorities in Zimbabwe to fortify goodwill which already exist in the tourism sector. This pledge emerged from across-the-board dialogue between Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Tourism, Anastancia Ndhlovu, and Yasuto Kawarabayashi, Vice Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency at the Tokyo headquarters of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, on Friday 23 September. “The Japanese tourism authorities, working in collaboration with the Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA), are interested in expanding their support for our community-based tourism projects. “They fully appreciate the importance of the programme, as well as the fact that communities, especially in rural areas, need to derive direct benefit from tourist activities and attractions which are located within their midst,” Ndhlovu said. She added that JICA is already working with the country in su

Lazarus Sauti In this global world, technology has taken the place of human beings. Children, for example, are more attached to their gadgets than perhaps with their parents. Because of this, t echnology is fast becoming a curse in disguise, as it is exposing these children to pornography. Most children are accessing pornography via mobile devices such as smart phones, and t his is worrisome considering the number of individuals who have cell phone services in Zimbabwe. At national level, the proportion of individuals aged 3 years and above who used a mobile cellular telephone in the last three months was about 68 percent, according to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Household Survey, 2014, by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat). The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) 2014 also asserts that 85.2 percent of young women aged 14-24 years and 85.6 percent of young men aged 15-24 years used mobile or non-mobile phones during the la

Lazarus Sauti Until last year, the primary crop in villages within and across Wedza District in the province of Mashonaland East was maize. But now, farmers, especially women in the district, grow other crops such as potatoes, onions, beans, carrots and tomatoes thanks to nutritious gardens introduced and supported by Women and Land in Zimbabwe. “Most people used to grow only maize, but we are now producing nutritious crops like potatoes, beans and tomatoes thanks to nutritious gardens introduced by Women and Land in Zimbabwe,” says Chipo Manyere (47) from Pfumbi village.   She adds that the organisation supported the establishment of a 2,5 hectare Ruzave gardening project, which consists of 40 members 37 of whom are females whilst three are males, after realising that the nutritional status of children under five years of age was extremely poor due to biting poverty and food insecurity. True to her assertions, one in every three children in Wedza and other parts o

Lazarus Sauti Women in Wedza District, Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe have welcomed gardening projects established in some parts of the area to fight hunger and lift families from the jaws of poverty. The gardening projects come at a time when Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa are grappling food challenges caused by El Nino-induced drought. The El Nino-induced drought, notes the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), has devastated crops as well as livestock, dried up sources of livelihoods, and left an estimated four million people in need of assistance. As a result, most villagers in Zimbabwe are depending on food handouts from the government and non-governmental organisations. Conversely, to counter drought and other problems in Wedza, Women and Land in Zimbabwe, working with Rural Women’s Assembly in Zimbabwe, empowered women to establish nutritious gardening projects. One such initiative to enable villagers to be self-reliant as well

Lazarus Sauti Most families in Ngwazani, a remote village in Buhera North District, cannot afford a decent meal per day, thanks to gripping poverty and drought induced by the El Nino phenomenon. The Zimbabwe Poverty Atlas (2015) testifies that poverty in the country is mainly a rural phenomenon and the overall poverty prevalence in Buhera was 78 percent. Buhera generally receives low amounts of rainfall, hence all districts in Buhera grapple with high poverty prevalence exceeding 65 percent. To development partners, people living in Buhera need assistance as soon as possible, but to human traffickers, Buhera is a good example of a lucrative source of cheap labour. Bu hera represents the type of areas likely to be gripped by the problem of human trafficking. Poverty and the general economic crisis in the country have made Zimbabweans more vulnerable to Trafficking in Persons (TiPs). Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons

Lazarus Sauti The Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) is organising a youth and women conference to be held in October at Masuka Christian High School in Tynwald, Harare in a bid to curb early marriages as well as gender-based violence. The event, under the theme “ The Role of The Church in Shifting the Paradigm on Youth and Women Engagement in Peace Building and Development ”, is expected to attract over 5 000 apostolic youth and women drawn from all provinces. Addressing journalist at the New Ambassador Hotel in Harare on Friday, ACCZ Gender and Child Care chairperson, Bishop Busani Sibanda, said the purpose-in-life of the youths and women conference is to teach apostolic members to guard against child marriages and gender-based violence. He also said the youth and women constitute the majority of people in ACCZ and as such, the Gender and Childcare Unit is mandated with the task of creating a conducive environment that champions their development. “B

Lazarus Sauti Most Africans are dependent on solid fuels such as wood, coal, crop residue/waste and cattle dung to prepare daily meals on traditional mud stoves or open fires due to lack of electricity. This lack of access to electricity is holding back economic expansion on the continent. “Only about a third of the population have access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in some countries, like Zambia, only 5 percent of rural and 26 percent of the urban population have electricity,” says expert in distributed renewable energy and Sierra Leone Power for All campaign director, Aminata Dumbuya. She adds that in Sierra Leone, less than 12 percent of people in the country’s cities have access to electricity, while in rural areas, where most people live, the figure is less than 1 percent. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) 2014 also notes that more than 70 percent of households in Zimbabwe still rely on solid fuels as their primary cooking and heating